Who Lines Up Your Feet?

Thursday I was on a golf course instead of in my office.

Thursday is when I write. Saying yes to the invitation meant pushing my sermon prep to Friday, and if you have ever tried to finish anything on a deadline, you know what that costs.

I said yes anyway.

I spent eighteen holes with three men I had never met. About four and a half hours, and I do not think we stopped talking the whole time.

I also lost a lot of golf balls.

I could stand on the tee box and picture exactly where I wanted the ball to land. I had the vision. I had the target. Then I would swing, and the ball would slice into the trees.

One of the other men did something I had never paid attention to before. Before he swung, he asked another man to stand behind him and look at his feet.

A little right.

Or, a little left.

He adjusted. Then he swung. And the ball went where he wanted it to go, over and over.

His vision was never the problem. His alignment was.

For eighteen holes, three men stood nearby who knew what they were doing. And you know what,I never once asked any of them to look at my feet. Ouch!

Here's the lesson I learned: Nobody lines up his own feet.

A clear target does not guarantee a straight line

Isaiah 30:21 says,

“And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”

A word behind you.

Not in front, where you are already looking. Behind you, where you cannot see.

Most of us know what we want in life, and what we want to build. We know where we are aiming. But what we don't know is where our stance, our ways, are taking us.

That is why we need people with permission to tell us the truth. We don't need more people telling us what's important but those who can tell us when we're off course.

Wanting the right thing is not the same as walking straight toward it.

A divided heart passes its drift forward

Solomon had it all and still lost his way.

He had everything we say a person needs. He had God's warning. He had wisdom. He had the plans for the temple, handed down from his father and written down. Yet nothing he built is still standing.

First Kings 11:4 tells us why:

“For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God.”

Not wholly true.

Not whole.

Solomon did not lose the blueprint. His heart divided. And the tearing did not stop with him. Scripture says the kingdom would come out of his son's hand.

Solomon's divided heart divided the nation.

Spiritual drift rarely announces itself. It looks more like a photocopy of a photocopy. Every pass loses a little. The letters soften. The edges blur. Nobody along the way makes one dramatic decision to ruin the page. It simply moves farther from the original.

You can copy the original forever with no loss. It is copying the copy that ruins it.

Every generation must go back to the pattern itself. Not to what the last generation preferred. Not to what used to work. Back to the One who gave the pattern.

Small corrections still require honest people

The man behind the golfer simply said, "a little right. He said, a little left."

The correction was small, but it still required another person.

If you know the target but suspect you are off the line, begin here:

1. Name the target out loud. Tell one trusted person what you are trying to build. Nobody can help you check an aim you keep hidden.

2. Give someone permission to stand behind you. Ask and you'll be surprised how many say "yes" to helping you. Choose someone who will tell you the truth without trying to take control of your life.

3. Listen before the swing. I had four and a half hours and three guys who would have loved to help me. But I asked for nothing. Do not wait until the ball is in the trees to ask whether your feet were pointed the wrong way.

4. Return to the original. Do not settle for the last copy. Go back to Scripture. Go back to Jesus. Let Him correct both what you are building and the way you are building it.

This is not a call to distrust every decision you make. It is a call to humility. The people who love us cannot walk the Way for us, but they can help us notice when our steps no longer match our confession.

Jesus promises a house that holds

Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount with two builders. Both hear His words. Both build a house. Both meet the same weather.

The difference is not what they heard. The difference is what they did with it.

Matthew 7:24–25 says,

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”

Same rain. Same floods. Same wind.

Jesus never promised the wise builder better weather. He promised the house would stand.

So if you are obeying God right now and it still costs you something, do not mistake hard weather for a wrong foundation. The promise was never sunshine. The promise was that the house holds.

Hear His words. Do what He says. Follow the Way.

And when someone you trust says, a little right or a little left, listen. You do not have to see your own feet. You just have to let somebody stand behind you.

If this is something you are working through, you can reach me at leadpastor@aaogchurch.com.